


Zona

by FixaIdea



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV), 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Genre: (teens but you get the idea), Accidental Baby Acquisition, Character Death, Crossover, Found Family, Gen, Mild Gore, Survival, Wilderness Survival, of sorts, pre-AOTC, weird physics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:34:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23875534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FixaIdea/pseuds/FixaIdea
Summary: When he and Obi-wan were tasked with bringing in a suspected Sith, Anakin knew he'll inevitably face some dangers, but still, he did not expect to get into this much trouble, this early on.Now he's stuck at a strange, ominous place where physics do not seem to work straight, forced to rely on a weird, friendly stranger... and hope that Obi-wan does not kill him, if he ever finds him.(I may not have a stellar track-record with finishing WIPs, but this one is 100% ready, I just chopped it up into chapters.)
Relationships: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn
Comments: 104
Kudos: 198





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I did not tag it as a fandom, because there are no characters from that story, but this was heavily inspired by Roadside Picnic/Stalker by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky.  
> You'll see why. None of the characters will like it.

Pain. Pain and darkness and an oppressive, all-encompassing silence. Anakin Skywalker cracked his eyes open and looked around. To his disappointment, the view did not change much, save for a single streak of light that came from way too far above for his liking. He sighed and hauled his aching body up into a sitting position. Something was wrong. Something other than the fact that every single one of his atoms hurt and he was stuck in some dark hole, since these two things were fairly common for him.

He sighed again and leaned back against the nearest wall. The room was barely wide enough for him to properly lay down, but so tall he could not see the ceiling. It seemed only to have a single window at least ten metres above him, and a small door, about one metre above the ground. Anakin picked himself up and hobbled over to inspect it. He lay his hands on it, reached out with the Force…

Which did not respond.

Oh. This was what bothered him.

Now that he could focus on more than the pain, he realised there wasn’t much else to focus on. The whole world felt muted, constricted and _wrong_. He was no longer in touch with the Force. Knees suddenly weak, at a complete loss, Anakin sank back down on the ground.

Obi-wan will kill him.

***

**Two days earlier**

Anakin Skywalker and Obi-wan Kenobi were standing in front of the Jedi Council. Well, technically just Master Windu and Master Yoda, but still, in the council room, and under circumstances other than being reprimanded. In fact, they were about to be handed a new mission. Anakin fought down the urge to bounce on his toes and schooled his features into an appropriately solemn expression.

After the formal greetings, Mace Windu cut right to the crux of the matter.

‘Master Kenobi. The task I am about to give you is difficult and dangerous, no use pretending otherwise. A rogue Force user, a potential Sith we have been trying to keep under surveillance for years now, has recently been spotted again. We need you to arrest this person and bring him in.’

Obi-wan nodded. Master Windu sighed and continued.

‘The situation is difficult, because we don’t even have a clear description. All we know is that he is most likely a human male who goes by the name Wei Wuxian. He is known to use Dark Side methods, but so far we found no connection between him and the Sith you killed back on Naboo.’

‘Where was he last seen?’ Obi-wan asked.

Masters Windu and Yoda exchanged a dark look.

‘The Kapkan system. Incidentally the same place Master Paala San’dor recently disappeared. This marks the second time the loss of a Jedi could be tied to him. The last Knight we sent to bring him in, Master Lan Wangji never returned either.’

Obi-wan hissed and nodded. Anakin narrowly held back from shaking his head. His master obviously knew who this Lan Wangji was, which meant no one would waste time bothering to explain it to Anakin himself.

‘I thought Master Lan resigned and left the Order on his own accord?’ said Obi-wan.

Master Windu rubbed his forehead.

‘He did send a rather confusing message in which he declared that he did not see this mysterious rogue as a danger, and yes, he resigned. Even some nonsense about wanting to marry him? We haven’t heard of him since, and frankly, knowing him, I find it hard to believe he would do this on his own free will. Whether he fell to the Dark Side or if he was forced to send this message, I do not know.’

‘Find this out, you must’ Yoda spoke up ‘Bring home Master Lan and Master San’dor you must – if still alive, they are.’

***

Packing up and being issued a ship did not take long, and in less than three hours Obi-wan and Anakin were on their way to the Kapkan system. Obi-wan was too busy planning their route to offer any more in-depth explanation, but he did give Anakin a data-pad and some holos on the missing Jedi. Apparently Master Lan was one of the best Knights of his generation, expert swordsman, exceptionally disciplined and known for his rigid adherence to the Temple rules. Anakin opened a holo of him. He was a human man in his mid-twenties, probably early thirties, with long black hair, clad in white robes, staring off into the distance with a solemn, impassive expression. His personal information claimed him to be Jeddhan.

As for Paala San’dor who, (unlike Lan Wangji, who was not heard of for three years now), only went missing roughly a week ago, she was a middle-aged Miraluka, last seen dressed in traditional brown and beige Jedi attire. Half her face was covered by a cloth mask. Anakin clicked his tongue: he never understood why they did this. So they did not have physical eyes, so what? They shouldn’t have to bother hiding it, people should learn not to be rude about it. Anakin shrugged and turned off the data-pad.

‘So… Master? What’s the plan?’

Obi-wan stroke his beard and stared out at the stars.

‘Well… since we have no description of this Wei Wuxian, let’s focus on tracking the people we do. Our first destination is Mesto 1, a small space colony orbiting Kapkan. That’s where Master San’dor last reported back from. We will ask about her, and Master Lan.’

Anakin nodded – this seemed logical. If the remark about marriage was more than the addled babbling of someone under duress, it would stand to reason that he would be found in this Wei Wuxian’s proximity.

‘Hold up…’ he muttered ‘If we don’t know how he looks like, how do we know he was there?’

‘Master San’dor mentioned her suspicion that he was in her last report, but sadly she did not go into details. We don’t even know what gave her the idea.’

This at least was made clear when they reached the colony – a journey which took almost a whole standard day. The whole settlement was comparatively tiny, so the news of a Jedi Knight visiting travelled around it in the matter of hours. Let alone two Knights. Two, because besides confirming the presence of Paala San’dor, the locals also recognised the holo of Master Lan. A bartender assured Obi-wan that he saw the two together, but could not recall anyone else being with them. By all evidence present, Master Lan had been here on his own.

‘I don’t get it’ Anakin grumbled, plopping down at a table, still at the bar ‘Why not just report that she saw Master Lan and be done with it?’

‘We’ll only know for sure when we find her, but knowing her and Master Lan… I suspect it has to do with exact words. Or, well… Telling the truth from ahh… a certain point of view.’

‘…A certain point of view?’

Obi-wan nodded.

‘From what I recall, the two were on friendly terms, back when Master Lan was still with us. Well, as friendly as Lan Wangji got with anyone. Suppose he made her promise she would not mention meeting him, but she was still worried and wanted to notify us in some way?’

‘…Cheers. So we’re probably here for nothing.’

Obi-wan levelled a disapproving stare at him.

‘We’re here to find and save Master San’dor and Master Lan. That is also part of our mission.’

They looked up as the bartender sidled up to them.

‘One more thing, gents…’ he started ‘The lady you’re looking for asked an awful lot about the planet.’

‘You mean Kapkan?’

Anakin could tell that only the years and years of customer service experience held their host back from rolling his eyes.

‘Yes, Kapkan. I’m only sayin’ so cos’ it seemed like she wanted to go there. No idea why, the whole place is a desert.’

‘What exactly were her questions?’ Obi-wan asked, frowning.

The bartender shrugged one of his many shoulders.

‘She wanted to know where to find ‘ _the fortress_ ’ as she put it. I told her there wasn’t any, not that I know of. Guess there used to be some sort of old observatory down there, but they moved it up here, and see, here we are still. No one lives down there anymore.’

Anakin bit back a groan. So instead of hunting down and arresting a Sith Lord, they were to chase around two stubborn Jedi on a boring dirt-ball of a planet. Growing up, Anakin had already had his fill with boring dirt-ball planets, so having to visit one more did not exactly fill him with excitement.

He told Obi-wan as much, but, predictably, all he got was an eye-roll for an answer.

Upon landing, Anakin found the place exactly as dull as he imagined it would be. They put their ship down on a plateau of sorts, flat and white and completely smooth, devoid of any sign of life. Nothing moved, not even the wind. Taking one look at the scenery, Obi-wan turned to him.

‘Well, this is going to take some time. I brought a tracker that will help us, the method will be as follows: we divide the surface into zones according to the device’s range and hop around with the ship. Once we get even a faint signal, we follow it.’

The mere idea bored Anakin to tears. He watched in despair as Obi-wan retreated into the ship to map out and calculate their course. He kicked at a non-existent pebble and stalked off in the direction of the plateau’s edge. Become a Jedi, they said, it will be grand and noble and useful they said. He reached the edge and set down, dangling his legs over the abyss below. From what he could see, the landscape mainly consisted of islands of similar flat plateaus, separated by seas of torn-up, tortured-looking rocky wasteland.

Anakin was so lost in the scenery he failed to notice the shadow that fell over him. He didn’t even have the time to look up before the world went black.


	2. Chapter 2

So, this was how he landed himself in the unknown cell. Now Anakin stared at the door. Despite his faint hopes it did not appear any less solid than it did when he first woke up. He patted himself down and quickly looked around the bare room – his lightsabre and komm-link were gone. Obviously. He turned his attention to the window, about ten metres above his head. Certainly the wall was rough, but was it rough enough? And without the aid of the Force, would it be even worth trying to scale it? Worth it or not, he might not have much of a choice on the long run…

There was a soft clicking noise at the door. Anakin whirled around and watched as it opened a fraction. A face appeared in the crack. It was hard to tell for certain in the dim light, but the stranger appeared to be human, or at least humanoid. Anakin opened his mouth to demand an explanation for his situation, but the other quickly held a finger to his lips. They opened the door a little wider, and motioned Anakin closer. They took a breath, about to speak – and froze. Quickly they shoved Anakin back inside the cell again, hopped in after him, turned back around… and pulled a twi’lek child in with them. Another twi’lek followed closely. Anakin was still trying to decide on a good course of action while the human quietly shut the door behind them. Thoughts finally catching up with him, Anakin tried to ask for an explanation again, but found the stranger’s slender finger pressed against his own lips for a turn, shushing him. Anakin bristled – but then he heard it. Slow, heavy footsteps approaching. He held his breath as they got louder and more defined, and, after a couple of long, agonizing minutes, finally started to dull and fall away.

Making use of this moment of stillness, Anakin finally took a good look at the newcomers. The human was a man, a young adult, probably in his mid-twenties, early thirties. The way he wore his long, black hair and the cut of his robes were strikingly similar to those of the missing Master Lan – perhaps a fellow Jeddhan? The twi’leks both seemed to be girls, one around fifteen, (Anakin’s own age) the other no more than five. Their skin was the same shade of blue and their noses were almost identical, so Anakin guessed they must be related.

However he had no more time to think: the footsteps outside finally died away completely and the human turned to him.

‘Hello there’ he whispered with a grin ‘Name’s Jiang Wanyin. We’re breaking out, wanna come with?’

Anakin had no better idea, so he nodded and wordlessly followed the little group out into a long corridor. It stretched into the distance, end curving out of sight. If possible, the air was even staler out here than it was back in the cell. Anakin expected they would make a mad dash in either directions, but no. Jiang Wanyin opened each cell, methodically, one after the other, looked inside, then closed the door and moved on.

‘Sir?’ the older twi’lek hissed ‘Sir, can’t we just go? Are you looking for someone?’

‘Yes’ the man said, keeping an eye on the next lock ‘A friend. Well, friend of a friend. A Jedi called Paala San’dor.’

‘What, you too?’ Anakin exclaimed – perhaps a little too loudly, because Jiang Wanyin turned back to shush him with a desperate grimace. Anakin was about to apologise, but he was grabbed and pushed into the next cell. The rest of the group stumbled in after him and Jiang Wanyin closed the door.

It was the same steps.

Anakin tried to scoot further back into the room – and something crunched under his heel. He guessed what was behind him without having to look, just by the horrified expression of the older twi’lek, and how she clapped her hand over the little one’s eyes. He slowly turned anyway.

He could not tell what exactly he was looking at, except that it had been dead for a long, long time. A heap of dried bones, held together by dried-up, white scraps of skin and fabric. The only identifiable part was a contorted hand, sticking up, clawing the air even in death. Anakin swallowed. It was a body. It was just an object. It could not hurt him. Still, he was glad to put the door between it and himself when his new guide judged it safe enough to move.

‘This place is so screwed’ the older twi’lek murmured ‘Normally I could tell if there was a living person nearby, and we wouldn’t have to bother with every door but…’ she shrugged and trailed off.

‘The Force is stifled here’ Jiang Wanyin finished.

The next door was only opened to a narrow crack before their guide shut it again, without looking. The smell was enough to tell them what they would find.

‘Not a lot of guards…’ the older twi’lek mused ‘You’d expect more.’

‘That’s not necessarily good news’ said their guide ‘There must be a reason why they are not needed. I expect we won’t like it when we find out why. Oh…’

He disappeared inside the next cell, this time leaving the little group behind. A minute passed. Then another. The air stilled, and suddenly Anakin became acutely aware of the sound of his own breath, harsh and shaky against the blanket of silence. Finally the door opened again, and Jiang Wanyin emerged, propping up an aging Azumel. Anakin stared.

‘Master Weran?’

He could not believe his eyes. This old Knight went missing months ago. Search party after search party was launched, all in wain, and yet here he was, battered and thin, but alive. His many eyes sluggishly turned towards Anakin, but before he could speak up or even properly focus on him, he was already being dragged on towards the next cell.

This, at last, held the person they were looking for.

‘Paala?’ Master Weran gasped, reaching for his fellow Knight, helping Jiang Wanyin lead her out into the corridor.

‘Pantax? Pantax Weran, is that you?’

‘It’s really him!’ Anakin cut in, too excited to remember his manners.

‘All right then, let us get out of here, and quick!’ said Master Weran, taking Master San’dor by the arm.

‘Ay, hey, what about the other…?’ Jiang Wanyin started, gesturing at the next door, but the group was already moving, leaving him behind. Finally he threw his arms up in frustration and stalked after them.

The end of the corridor curved out of sight, but the light at the end promised an exit. It was curved in this exact way, with exactly the same amount of light when Anakin first stepped out on it. Anakin’s stomach lurched. Their original guide had a point: maybe the place just didn’t need that many guards. Still, something was clearly moving here, and sure enough, the group barely passed a handful of doors before the steps sounded again.

The creature that appeared looked vaguely humanoid – or more precisely like the unfortunate love-child of a human and a Rancor. Their most worrying feature, besides the excessive amount of teeth, was the oversized gun they carried. Anakin stared at them. They stared back.

Then they hauled their gun up to their shoulder.

The group needed no instructions, thought Master Weran was quick to give them anyway. He and Anakin grabbed Master San’dor by her arms, Jiang Wanyin picked up the small twi’lek and they ran. The blast hit the wall right by Anakin’s head, crushing a door and filling the corridor with dust and debris. Anakin stumbled and fell – and when he looked up he was under the open sky. The impact must have shifted something, because the infinite tunnel abruptly ended, and they all stumbled out into a courtyard.

Which had no doors. Or windows. Or openings of any sorts.

Anakin wandered over to the nearest wall and ran his hand over it. It felt depressingly solid. It was also perfectly smooth and way too high. He turned around and saw that the others followed his lead: they were all shuffling along the walls, testing them. Anakin sighed and laid his hand on it once more…

Mater Weran disappeared.

The others quickly congregated around the spot on the ground that seemed to have swallowed him up. Jiang Wanyin tested it: his foot sank into the floor.

‘No way but forward, I guess’ he murmured ‘There’s no way we’re getting outta here otherwise.’ Wasting no more words, he stepped forward and disappeared.

Anakin bit back a whine. He cast one last desperate look at the walls enclosing them, but alas they did not get any lower or easier to climb in the meantime. He rubbed at his face – the twi’leks were also gone, he was left alone with Paala San’dor.

‘Master San’dor? Do you want to go…?’

The Miraluka nodded resolutely.

‘Lead the way.’

Anakin took her by the elbow and lead her to the spot. He stepped forward… The ground disappeared from beneath his feet and he landed on his back with a yelp. A fraction of a second later Master San’dor also fell on top of him. She was quickly helped up by someone, but Anakin was left to stagger to his feet on his own. It took a good few seconds of confused blinking to finally take stock of his surroundings.

They were squeezed inside a tiny, gloomy storeroom. The older twi’lek was busy inspecting a scrape on the little one’s knee, Master Weran listening to something at the keyhole… and Jiang Wanyin looting the shelves. He stuffed a handful of energy bars under his robes, tossed Anakin and the big twi’lek a water bottle each – all very sensible, except Anakin clearly saw him also nick what looked suspiciously like a bottle of Corelian whisky. Master Weran shot the man an annoyed look out of all of his eyes – a grand total of more annoyed looks than what Anakin earned on an average day.

Abruptly, without warning the others, the old Jedi kicked in the door and dashed out. With no other choice left, the others followed.

Luck seemed to be on their side: the little store room was situated right by a huge, open gate.

Anakin blinked – it couldn’t be this easy!

It was not. This time a laser blast came so close it singed Anakin’s hair. Two guards came racing down another long corridor, running right towards them. Anakin turned to flee – and almost stumbled on the body of Master San’dor.

She was shot right in the middle of her chest, Anakin noted with a weird sense of detachment. He was vaguely aware he should be sad or just… feel something, anything, but there was nothing.

He only realised he was standing frozen when Master Weran seized his arm and tugged him along. Throwing one last glance behind his back, he saw Jiang Wanyin bend down and snatch the cloth Master San’dor wore over her face, but had no time to dwell on the matter.

They tumbled out the gates, darting out into the rocky desert that opened up before them. Finally, finally Anakin felt the reassuring waves of the Force, still muted but at least present. He closed his eyes, savouring the sensation even while running – then stumbled back, caught at the cuff by Jiang Wanyin.

The man stood still, frowning, looking back at the gate. Anakin turned, following his gaze. Their guards, already out of shooting range, remained standing there. They exchanged a look, shrugged and retreated into the fortress.

‘That’s… not good’ Jiang Wanyin murmured ‘Why not chase us?’

‘What do you care?’ Master Weran barked ‘Hurry up!’

The old Azumel marched a couple of paces forward, then looked back over his shoulder. The human did not budge. Anakin and the twi’leks also stood still, blinking, uncertainly turning from one to the other. The Jedi scoffed and walked on – the older twi’lek moved to follow him, but Anakin caught her arm. Something truly felt off about the place.

‘Master Weran!’ Jiang Wanyin called out ‘I think you should be…’

He never got to finish the sentence. The Azumel, ready to cut him off, turned around, opened his mouth… His many eyes bulged out as, for a fraction of a second he stood frozen, before an invisible force yanked him up into the air and twisted his limbs. Anakin shut his eyes, but he could not block out the wet, crunching sound the body made as it folded up on itself. When at last he felt ready to look, nothing was left of the old Jedi.

Nothing, except a fresh puddle of shiny black goo on the sand.

For a moment, Anakin forgot to breathe. This was a Jedi Master. A respected, experienced Knight. He of all people should have sensed the danged, muted sense of Force or not! If even he walked right into… whatever that was, what chance did he, a Padawan, have?

Jiang Wanyin bent down and carefully picked up a pebble. He weighed it in his hand for a moment, then threw it right at the spot where Master Weran stood. It flew ahead – then shot right up towards the sky in an unnatural angle.

And did not come back down.

Jiang Wanyin picked up another stone, and threw it in a different direction. This time it flew smoothly, on a trajectory one would expect from a stone. Slowly, carefully considering every single step, Jiang Wanyin walked over to where it landed and picked it up again.

‘Well then, children’ he said ‘I guess now we know why there were so few guards, and why didn’t they bother chasing us. Follow me. Single line, step only in my footsteps.’

Anakin hated the idea of trusting a stranger like that, but he had no better solution, so, following the two twi’leks, he carefully shuffled up to the man.

‘Master…?’

‘Oh? Jiang. That’s the clan name, though ‘Senior Jiang’ will do just fine. And how should we call you?’ he asked, turning to the girls.

The older twi’lek rubbed the base of her lekku.

‘Ah uhh… I’m Giz’ahan and this is my sister, Gid’ahan. That’s Giza Han and Gida Han in Basic and uh… yeah, that’s one name. So you can call us Giza and Gida but just know it’s a nickname, I guess?’

Now all three turned towards Anakin.

‘Uh so. I’m called Anakin Skywalker. ‘Skywalker’ is the family name but just call me Anakin.’


	3. Chapter 3

Obi-wan Kenobi was beyond furious. Quite literally so – he passed beyond fury into terrible, gut-twisting worry and finally, surpassing even that, arrived at a serene, if slightly deranged numbness. He had, a couple of years ago, already resigned himself to the fact that Anakin will kill him one day, but he hoped for at least another decade.

Ah well. So much for that.

Kapkan was, according to every single source he consulted, a rocky desert planet, inhabited only by flora and fauna unfit for human consumption, but extremely fit for human destruction. Also, there was virtually no water on the surface, and Anakin took off with only minimal provisions.

Obi-wan sighed and forced himself back into the present. Here he was, doing the exact thing he kept scolding Anakin for, aimlessly speculating when he had a task to concentrate on. He turned the attention back at the detector in his hands.

It was designed to detect carbon-based life-forms and could be set to identify all the mayor sentient species. For the longest while it remained silent, but now it was picking up a faint trace.

A human.

Perking up, Obi-wan hauled his supply-bag on his shoulder and set out to follow the signal. The environment looked every bit as hostile as the holo-guides promised it to be. Bare, jagged mountains and deep canyons tore up the land. Nothing moved, not even the wind and a thick layer of dust – usually seen only on the top-shelves of unused libraries – covered everything.

For hours and hours Obi-wan trudged along, following the gentle beeping of the device. The signal kept steadily picking up force and around sunset, it indicated that whoever he was tracking was within ten metres. It also led him into a maze of tall boulders, so the person still remained hidden. This suited Obi-wan just fine: according to his tracker the other was approaching him, he could hide, wait and see. He placed the device on the ground and crouched down beside it in the shadow of a large rock.

A minute passed.

At last, he picked up the sound of soft footsteps. A tall, slender man dressed all in white emerged from the shadows. The last rays of the setting sun caught on a silver ornament in his long hair. Obi-wan held his breath.

‘Come out. I know you are there.’

Obi-wan let out said breath. If it came out as a defeated sigh, well, there was nothing to do about it.

‘Whatever device you have with you is making a sound. Come out’ the stranger repeated.

Obi-wan clambered to his feet and stepped out of his hiding place. Now at least he got a better look at the newcomer’s face.

‘Wait, hold up, are you…?’

‘Master Kenobi?’

‘Master Lan?’

They greeted each other with a polite little bow.

‘Glad as I am to see you, you must forgive me if I seem a little disappointed’ said Obi-wan, waving his tracker ‘Since this place doesn’t seem to have any settlements, or simply people, I expected the signal I was picking up to be my Padawan.’

‘As I was hoping for my husband’ Lan Wangji answered, holding up a similar device.

‘Oh, a…? A husband? Congratulations!’

Lan Wangji’s confusion was easy to pick up, even though his expression barely changed.

‘Did you not know? I recall I mentioned getting married in my resignation message.’

Obi-wan scratched his beard.

‘Well, yes… I just don’t think anyone took it seriously. Or believed that you were doing it out of your own free will.’

Lan Wangji hummed in disapproval, but did not argue or offer an explanation. Instead, he looked down at the machine in his hands.

‘Do you share a bond with your Padawan?’

‘A Force-bond? Just a very weak one.’

‘I should be able to feel my husband’s thoughts. I should not need this to find him’ Lan Wangji said, eyes still glued on the tracker. ‘I… cannot.’

Obi-wan shook his head.

‘This place is strange, and sinister in a way I can’t quite put my finger on. He might still be alive, just stuck somewhere where you can’t feel him. Don’t give up yet.’


	4. Chapter 4

The stone flew through the air, then, its trajectory abruptly cut in half, landed with a depressing thud. Senior Jiang reached behind his back – Giza Han handed him another pebble. This time, aimed a couple of degrees to the right of the first direction, it made a natural arc. Senior Jiang inched after it, careful, step by step, the others filing in after him.

The small group devised a system: Senior Jiang would lead the way, mapping out their way between the invisible anomalies, while Anakin and Giza picked up rocks for him to use. They all quickly agreed not to let little Gida touch anything, as some patches of dirt felt even more ominous than their already hostile surroundings, and no one wanted to find out what would happen if she accidentally reached for one of them.

‘…Back when I only started to learn how to use the Force, I often had to close my eyes and otherwise block out the rest of my senses to really get a feel of it. Once we’re out of here, you could try it too.’

Anakin knew this was all meant for the girls who, despite their apparent talent, never had anyone to teach them, but he still felt like laughing. How basic!

‘Should it feel like a physical thing?’ Giza asked ‘Like… usually I can tell where Gida is by… I dunno it’s like she’s walking on the surface of my mind? …I know it doesn’t make sense.’

‘It does though’ said Senior Jiang ‘From what I can tell, even people of the same species experience the Force a bit differently. Me and my husband feel it like a melody, and yes, like physical touch.’

He stopped to access their situation. Their path led them in front of two large boulders. They were tall and wide, but left enough space between them for the group to comfortably pass through.

‘…And right now it’s telling me that I shouldn’t even waste a pebble on this. I’m not going in between those.’

Anakin had to agree. Even though the opening looked perfectly unassuming, something about it felt wrong. Of course this meant they had to slowly crawl around the rocks, pebble-throw by pebble-throw. Much more of this awkward shuffling and Anakin would be quite ready to claw his face off in frustration.

‘Steady there’ Senior Jiang sniggered ‘Put that boiling aside for when you can use it. Right now being rash will only get you splattered.’

Anakin blinked.

‘Put it away?’

‘Mn. Anger gets things done, you just need to be careful where you point it.’

‘That’s… not a very Jedi-like thing to say.’

‘Sure, but I’m not a Jedi.’

Anakin wasn’t sure why the answer bothered him, after all everything he said so far marked the man as self-taught. Maybe the flippant, dismissive tone? Anakin wanted to push further into it, when Giza spoke up.

‘Anyone’s got anything to eat? I’m fine but Gida…’

‘Oh, sure, sure!’ said Senior Jiang, rummaging in the breast of his robes ‘Give me a second…’

He fished out an energy bar from the folds of his clothes and handed it over to the little girl. Gida eyed it with some mistrust for a moment, then took it gingerly.

‘There’ said Senior Jiang, flashing her a wide grin ‘When we get out of here, I’ll buy you lot a big lunch.’

He would have gone on, but he froze, mouth still hanging open for a second, before he quickly tugged Gida close and motioned for the others to duck. They huddled down, pressed to the man’s side in the shadow of the boulder.

Nothing happened.

Anakin would have bristled, but even through his muted connection the Force was ringing all the alarm bells of his mind. The air around them remained completely still, not even a wisp of drought, no sound.

An enormous shadow fell over them. Anakin blinked, too surprised to even be scared. The shadow floated over them at the pace of tectonic plates, and a leg – at least Anakin thought it must have been a leg – crashed into the ground right in front of them, shaking the ground.

Yet it still made no sound at all.

Fear finally overpowered his shock, and Anakin’s heart sped up so hard he was scared he might accidentally spit it out. Part of him wanted to know what was above them, but there was no way he would move enough to raise his head and look. He only risked it once the shadow passed them.

There was nothing there.

A thing of this size should have still been clearly visible, but there was nothing.

‘…Well then’ Senior Jiang mumbled ‘That was… something. I think we can agree we’ve had enough for one day. It’s even getting dark.’

Since no one wanted to move and they had no means to make a fire, making camp consisted of passing around some more energy bars and the water, and Senior Jiang giving his outer robes to the girls to use as a blanket.

Now that he had some time to calm down, his earlier doubt and suspicion crept back into Anakin’s mind. For a couple on moments he continued to sit in quiet, watching the other eat, then he spoke up.

‘So… Senior Jiang… you’re not a Jedi. But what are you?’

The man smiled and shrugged.

‘I’m me. For all the Jedi claim not to deal in absolutes, their world is awfully black and white.’

‘But you’re not a Sith, right?’ Anakin blurted out before his brain could even formulate the phrase ‘no one in their right mind would answer that honestly’.

Senior Jiang blinked, huffed and threw his head back, laughing.

‘No way, no! No one needs that sort of stress!’

‘What are those?’ Giza asked quietly ‘I’ve heard about the Jedi before, but not those?’

Senior Jiang pulled a face.

‘A cult. A literal cult, is what they are. They use what they call the Dark Side of the Force, so strong passion and negative energy which… well, that can work fine, but they are also bloody well convinced that they personally are the centre of the whole damn universe, which should by all rights worship them. But, see, the universe can only have so many centres, there’s a good reason why there’s only two of them at any given time.’

Giza sniggered.

‘What, really?’

‘You think I’m exaggerating, but it’s literally in their code. It wasn’t always like that, but they kept backstabbing each other, so in the end they decided to pretend it’s all on purpose.’

Anakin shook his head.

‘You still know an awful lot about them. Have you ever met one?’

Expression slightly more serious, Senior Jiang nodded.

‘Actually, yes. Bloke called Darth Maul, tried to recruit me. I hear he died, didn’t he?’ he shrugged again ‘Unnerving fellow. Also very boring. ‘Taking over the Galaxy’ this, ‘taking over the Galaxy’ that, who would even want that? I have enough trouble managing a single garden, what would I do with the whole Galaxy? Just imagine the paperwork!’

He laughed again, clearly entertained by the absurd idea. He leant forward and gently poked Gida.

‘And you Lady Gid’ahan? What would you do if you were Empress of the Galaxy?’

The little girl, who had not said a single word since they left the fortress, blinked owlishly up at him. Finally, after a long consideration she announced:

‘Loth-cat.’

‘You would want a loth-cat?’

She nodded.

‘…Two. Two loth-cats. If I rule everything no one can say I can’t have them, right?’

Senior Jiang stood and bowed down with a theatrical flourish.

‘That is correct. In her infinite wisdom Empress Gid’ahan even thought to get a pair, lest a single cat get lonely and bored. I support your cause my Lady!’

Gida giggled. Senior Jiang plopped back down next to her. Anakin smiled, listening as he carried on chatting with the little girl about her interests. Whatever his long-term motives and exact allegiances, the man seemed to pose no danger for the moment. He allowed himself to rest.


	5. Chapter 5

Anakin stared at the shallow ditch. The ditch, for lack of eyes, did not stare back at him, but somehow it still felt like it was giving its best shot.

‘Well, well’ said Senior Jiang ‘How do we feel about this?’

‘Stinky’ Gida Han declared solemnly.

‘Stinky is not a bad way to put it’ her sister said, frowning ‘Also somehow cold? I don’t like it.’

Anakin nodded ‘Yeah, I have a bad feeling about it too.’

Senior Jiang turned back towards the ditch. It cut right across their path, and stretched all the way towards the horizon in both directions. It was also filled by some sort of contorted, thorny growth that looked like a cross between a mutated climber plant and the shrivelled tentacles of a landed sea-monster.

‘Turning back is pointless, and we all agree that stepping down there feels like a bad idea. So how do you propose we get to the other side?’ Senior Jiang asked, pacing along the edge, calm and conversational, like a teacher leading his class on a trip.

Anakin shrugged.

‘It’s not too wide, I could jump over this.’

‘You mean you could try’ Giza Han muttered. She picked up a pebble, glanced at Senior Jiang, who nodded back with approval, and chucked the pebble over the ditch. It flew smoothly on a natural-looking trajectory. Giza Han shrugged. ‘Yeah, looks like you could try that.’

‘He certainly could’ said Senior Jiang, rubbing his nose ‘But with the Force being as unreliable as it is, it’s a risky move. Besides, he’d be left alone on the other side.’ he resumed pacing ‘Giza ruled out a gravitational anomaly, what else could be off here?’

Gida threw her hand up in the air, jumping up and down like an excited schoolgirl ‘I know! I know! The nasty plants!’

‘Excellent!’ Senior Jiang clapped ‘To test if this is true, we need to get rid of them. If the premonition eases up, then we have our problem solved. Now, how do we do this? We have no light-sabres, or, I expect, any knives.’

The question was met with silence. Anakin suddenly found the dust on his boots inexplicably fascinating, and from the corner of his eyes he could see Gida and Giza also being busy inspecting theirs.

‘All right then’ said Senior Jiang with a smile ‘Let me show you something.’

He reached under his robes and pulled out the Corelian whiskey he nicked from the guards’ room. He sighed, shook his head, muttered something about how such a fine product deserved a better end, took a long swing from it and set it down on the ground. Crouching beside it, he tore a long strip off his frayed inner robes, stuffed the end inside the bottle and wrapped the rest around its neck.

‘Now, Force Lightning could be a good way to clean an area like this, but it’s a high-effort technique, and with the Force being as muted as it is here, it might give out on me. Besides, the lightning can be reflected or thrown back at the caster, and I don’t know for sure what’s down there.’

Anakin frowned. He never heard of such a technique before. He meant to ask about it, but before he could open his mouth, Senior Jiang went on. He held up the bottle and tapped its side.

‘So this is what we are going to use. All I need to do is light this rag. I could also use Force lightning to do it, but then it might just explode in my face, so…’ he tore another, smaller piece off the edge of his robe ‘…I’m going to use this bit here as a match.’

He held up the rag in one hand, making sure the children saw what he was doing, and pinched its dangling end between his fingers. Anakin, Giza and Gida leaned in close and watched with fascination as small electric sparks began to dance around his hand. The fabric started to smoke, and finally caught on fire. He held it up to the other rag, the one tied around the bottle, waited a couple of moments until the flame gained a little strength, then lobbed the whole makeshift bomb at the bushes.

They went up in flames with a satisfying ‘whoosh’. The plants writhed, twisted and shrivelled and, Anakin could have sworn, screamed. They were not nearly as dry as they appeared, but the fire did catch on after a while, and destroyed a big enough patch in front of them. True to their expectations, the uneasy feeling lifted somewhat as the hedge crumbled to dust, but it took another half an hour before Senior Jiang would risk the crossing. He cautiously eased down into the ditch, took a few careful steps, climbed back out, picked up Gida Han and raced across to the other side. Once he made sure the little girl was safe he motioned for the others to follow.

Giza Han took a deep breath – hesitated for a moment – then ran. She made it to the other side, slipped on the steep side of the grove, almost slid back, but Senior Jiang caught her by the arm and hauled her to safety.

It was Anakin’s turn. The remains of the plant-like thing looked reassuringly dead, but Anakin’s premonition was flaring up again. Pushing it away for the moment, he hopped down and darted across – or at least he would have if his leg didn’t catch on something halfway through. He face-planted into the ashes with a loud thud, tried to stand, and found his leg trapped. He yanked and pulled, but even before he could fully access his situation, Senior Jiang was by his side, stomping furiously at something by Anakin’s foot. The force holding him back let up and Anakin stumbled forward, grabbing onto Giza Han’s outstretched hand, clambering up, out of the grove. He whipped around.

Back in the ditch the ground was squirming, the ashes twisting back into the shapes of tentacles – one already latched onto Jiang Wanyin’s leg. For a fraction of a second, the man stood still as the tendrils rose up around him, ready to grab, hiding him from Anakin’s eyes. They fell on him – and exploded in a flash of white electric light. The grey tentacles withered away under the lightning bolts shooting out of Senior Jiang’s fingertips.

Anakin stared – this was definitely not something they thought you at the Temple!

Finally the last vine holding on to Senior Jiang shrivelled up with the rest, and the man lunged forward. Anakin and Giza Han reached out in union, grabbing an arm each, hauling him up and out of the ditch. For a long moment, he remained on his hands and knees, panting harshly. At last he took a deep breath, hauled himself to his feet and turned towards them with a grin.

‘Well then! All in one piece, everyone?’

Anakin was not sure how to answer, so he merely nodded. On one hand, he was unhurt. Even better, his head was clear once more, his senses restored to their full capacity – the Force was fully with him again. On the other hand, a brand new knot just formed in his stomach – he couldn’t pretend not to notice the red light that was slowly fading from Jiang Wanyin’s eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

Having no better idea, Lan Wangji and Obi-wan Kenobi fell back on Obi-wan’s initial idea, meticulously combing through the surface, no matter how long it takes. At the moment, they were in orbit, in Master Lan’s ship, looking for a suitable spot to land.

Obi-wan was nominally watching the controls, but honestly he barely paid any attention to them. Since he ran into the lapsed Jedi, he had to be extra careful about controlling his thoughts and emotions, in case the other picked up on his actual motives. So far at least Master Lan did not ask what brought Obi-wan here and seemed to be content with the explanation that he was looking for his Padawan. Master Lan seemed to be under the impression that his final report put an end to his husband’s troubles with the law. Right now, he really did not need to know about the arrest order against Wei Wuxian.

‘You could ask for help’ Master Lan spoke up ‘Wei Ying doesn’t trust the Order, but given the circumstances…’

Obi-wan winced. The idea was perfectly logical, but alas harder to execute than it should have been.

‘Truth to be told…’ Obi-wan said ‘We’re embarrassingly under-staffed. And I don’t know how closely you kept up with politics, but we’re already stretched way too thin. I’ll send a message, but…’

Lan Wangji nodded. Obi-wan fiddled with the monitors for a moment, then looked up.

‘Incidentally, if you lost your connection with him, how do you know your husband is down there?’

Master Lan kept his eyes on the stars.

‘Do you know Paala San’dor?’

Obi-wan frowned.

‘Yes?’

‘I met her the other day. I was waiting for Wei Ying at Mesto 1 when she came. She mentioned wanting to check something down on the surface. She meant it as a quick trip, but in two days she still did not come back. I told Wei Ying about this, and he suggested we look for her. I was meant to meet him down there, but our bond went silent.’

‘Wonder if anyone will bother to come look for us when we inevitably get sucked up by whatever took Master San’dor, Anakin and Wei Wuxian…’

‘Others will come, even if not looking for us.’ Lan Wangji said grimly.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Paala San’dor had a theory. She said there is a place on this planet that lures in and traps Force users. Do you remember Pantax Weran? And Janie Kala? She thinks this is where they went.’

‘So what I’m hearing’ Obi-wan said, rubbing his eyes ‘Is that if we survive this, we WILL have to come back with reinforcements and check this place out…’

He would have gone on rambling, but Lan Wangji’s head snapped up.

‘Wei Ying…!’

Obi-wan spun around to face him.

‘Can you…?’

‘I can feel him. I know where to find him.’


	7. Chapter 7

Progress was incomparably faster now that they were out of the oppressive, Force-suppressing zone. For a short while Senior Jiang kept throwing stones, but since they found no new anomalies, he lay it off. Instead, he picked up Gida so they could walk with more speed, not held back by her short little legs.

Once again, Anakin was torn. Technically, yes, he already knew Senior Jiang did not shy away from Dark methods the way a Jedi would have, but knowing it in the abstract and seeing it in action were very different.

‘Are we going anywhere in particular?’ Giza asked.

‘Right now the plan is to get as far away from that fortress as possible’ Senior Jiang answered ‘And wait for my husband to pick us up. Anything else we can figure out when we’re off this hellish planet.’

‘How’s he gonna find us though?’

‘We share a Force bond. It was muted, but now I can hear him clearly again and I can show him where we are.’

‘Is he pretty?’ Gida piped up.

‘Very pretty’ Senior Jiang answered with a fond smile.

‘How he looks like?’

‘He has long black hair like me, only he’s a lot prettier. Also he likes to wear white, not black.’

Anakin was overcome with the sudden urge to walk up to the nearest vertical surface and bang his head on it. Right. _Right_. An errant Force user, a human male with long black hair, clad in white robes… And who could this mystery person be possibly married to? This suspicious rogue with his dark tricks? Oh WHO could these two POSSIBLY be? Anakin sighed, biting his tongue. He needed a confirmation, but he needed to be circumspect about it. If this was indeed Wei Wuxian, there must have been a reason why he chose a different name, if only simple precaution and wariness of the Jedi in general. Outright asking him would probably just get him a laugh.

He would have gone on pondering his options, but premonition seized him with a force so overwhelming he froze in his track for a moment. A quick glance around confirmed that the others felt it too. Right now, they were in a network of canyons, flanked by sheer walls of rock from either side.

‘There, look!’ Giza pointed at a large crack in the cliff-face a little ahead of them. The group hurriedly filed inside, following Senior Jiang. The crack – almost a cave – was large enough to temporarily conceal them, and ran on deep into the heart of the rock.

The ground shook. Anakin spun back around towards the entrance: a shadow fell over the canyon floor. He was almost certain it was the same thing they came across earlier, and just like then, it made no sound at all. Giza, who stood much closer to the entrance, risked an upwards glance, but withdrew at once and pressed her face into Senior Jiang’s shoulder.

They all heaved a collective sigh of relief when the rumbling finally died down.

‘Guess we should explore this…’ said Anakin, walking deeper inside the cave. He couldn’t make more than two steps before a shrill yell stopped him.

‘WAIT!’

He turned back, blinking in confusion. Senior Jiang and little Gida were staring at him like they caught him playing with a toaster in a bathtub, but Giza looked as confused as he felt.

‘Silly boy, look where you’re going!’

‘Wha…?’

Senior Jiang just shook his head, but Gida pointed ahead.

‘You’ll walk into the spider-web!’

Anakin turned around. The tunnel ahead still looked empty.

‘I don’t see anything either’ he could hear Giza say.

‘Well, come over here’ said Senior Jiang.

They did as they were told, Giza shrugging, Anakin grumbling under his breath. They stood on either side of their guide, squinted…

‘Oh… There it is!’ Giza sighed.

Whatever it was, it truly resembled a spider-web. Barely-there, silvery lines crossing over the entire width of the tunnel, mere inches from where Anakin stood just a moment before. The group exchanged a look and they were out of the cave before Anakin could say ‘nope’.

Instincts now torn between wanting to get away from the cave, but loathing being forced out into the open, they stumbled along the narrow canyon.

This time at least they heard the footsteps.

It was not the Silent Giant, this was something else. It lurched up behind them, crawling out from one of the side ravines. For a fraction of a second, it stood still, just long enough for Anakin’s brain to at least begin to comprehend what he was seeing. It looked like an amalgamation of at least half a dozen different bodies, covered in sullen, all-black eyes.

For a moment, Anakin dared hope that it would take no interest and pass them by…

The thing lunged at them.

The group scattered, ducking out of its way. It jerked to a halt, as if trying to pick the easiest target, giving Anakin enough time to pick up a large rock, and with the help of the Force hurl it at the part that resembled a head the most. It landed with a sickening crunch and took out two of the creature’s eyes.

For a beat, the Thing remained motionless.

Then it flew at Anakin with unexpected speed. If not for the Force propelling him out of the way, almost without his conscious control, it would have crushed him against the canyon wall. Coughing, wiping sand and dust out of his face, Anakin sprang to his feet.

The Thing was engulfed in white electric light, shaking and wriggling, trying to get Senior Jiang off of itself, Force Lightning crackling around them. Finally a spindly, rod-like limb latched on to the man’s leg and tore him off of its back, throwing him into the solid rock wall. It sizzled and smoked where the lightning seared it, but otherwise it seemed unaffected. It staggered towards Gida, seemingly unaware of the stones Giza was chucking at it.

Spotting a somewhat larger boulder, Anakin focused, trying to lift it… and promptly got distracted by the sound of whistling.

The Thing stood frozen, a clawed limb inches away from Giza Han, who cowered on the ground before it, shielding her sister. Senior Jiang calmly walked around it and came to stand in front of it, all while whistling.

The claw trembled.

Senior Jiang stood his ground. Now that his senses were no longer muted, Anakin could feel the tendrils of Darkness rise up around him, rolling off him in waves.

Finally the Thing moved. Jerkily, it turned away from the girls, lumbered past Anakin and dragged itself off in the same direction it came from.

Senior Jiang promptly fell to his knees and doubled over, coughing. Giza and Anakin were by his side in a blink, but – although he was obviously breathing hard and blood was dripping off his chin – he waved them off with a smile.

‘I’m fine, I’m fine!’

He clambered to his feet. He chuckled and shook his head.

‘Should have realised much sooner… would have saved us a lot of trouble…’

‘Realised what?’ Giza asked.

‘That whatever this was, it was dead.’

Anakin had no idea why this was supposed to be comforting. In fact, he could not come up with a single explanation where this bit of information would have been comforting.

Thankfully soon enough they found another cave – or more precisely a shallow hole in the cliff-face, mercifully devoid of suspicious cobwebs – to shelter in for the night. Anakin was supremely miserable. The hole was cold and bare, the ground he was supposed to sleep on covered entirely in coarse sand and rocks, not even a patch of grass in sight. Being unable to sleep, Anakin was beginning to wish he would simply pass out, but alas he wasn’t even granted this small mercy. The girls did not seem to have the same problem: tucked under Senior Jiang’s outer robe they were already lost to the world.

Anakin was jolted out of his thoughts by a hiss. He opened his eyes but remained as immobile as possible, not wanting to give away that he was awake. Predictably, the source of the noise was Senior Jiang. He was examining his carved-up leg. Anakin had to forcibly supress a sympathetic hiss of his own, because the wound looked terrible. The gashes were not too deep, not enough to make him lose too much blood, but they were oozing a horrid yellowish puss, and the skin around them was red, obviously inflamed. Anakin’s heart squeezed with worry. All Senior Jiang had for bandage material were his own ragged, filthy inner robes, and at this point putting those in contact with the wounds would have done more harm than good. The Corelian whiskey would have come in handy, but the only bottle they had was already gone. Senior Jiang seemed to have the same thoughts, as he pulled a face and shook his head. He spent a couple of more seconds inspecting his wounds, then leant back and closed his eyes. He remained still for a long while, breathing slow and even. When he opened his eyes again his eyes were glowing red. He picked up one of his discarded bracers and bit down on it. Anakin watched with horrified fascination as sparks began to dance around his fingers and he pressed them to the sides of the biggest gash.

Anakin squeezed his eyes shut. He understood that this was probably a desperate effort to cauterise the wounds, but that did not mean he had to watch. The smell of burning flesh and the poor man’s muffled moans were more than enough. He finally couldn’t take it and had to look when he heard a broken sob. Senior Jiang was leaning back against the wall, eyes closed, tear tracks on his face, breathing hard. His lips were almost white and he was shaking so hard even Anakin could clearly see it from where he was laying.

A minute passed, and another. Senior Jiang’s breathing evened out a little, but the trembling did not ease up. Anakin could not take it anymore. He got up, shrugged off his robe and tucked it around Senior Jiang’s shoulders.

The look he received he knew would haunt him for a long, long time. Grateful, sure, but also full of shock and disbelief. Anakin did not understand. Certainly he knew that those who followed the Dark path were usually too self-centred to understand altruism, but surely this stranger – whether he was truly called Jiang Wanyin or not – was different? He just spent the last couple of days defending three children he had no obligation to defend, with no clear goal or ulterior motive. Why be so surprised when one of them tried to reciprocate?

‘You’ll be cold.’

Anakin blinked. It took him a moment to process that Senior Jiang spoke to him. When he finally did he shook his head and plopped down beside him.

‘You’re hurt. You need it more.’

The man gave him that strange look again, but then he inclined his head.

‘Thank you.’

They sat in silence for a while. Finally Anakin sighed and spoke up.

‘Do you think we have a chance? Honestly?’

‘Yes’ Senior Jiang murmured ‘I can feel my husband’s presence, he’s getting closer. He won’t take long now, we just have to hang on for a little while.’

Anakin leant back. He had to word his next sentence carefully.

‘Obi-wan tells me Lan Wangji was the best Jedi of their generation. I’m sure he will find us soon.’

The man beside him nodded.

‘He sure is. He’ll come, I know.’

A moment passed. ‘Senior Jiang’ stared off into the middle distance and then let his head fall back against the rock.

‘Drat.’

Anakin allowed himself a self-satisfied smile. Wei Wuxian shot him a dirty look, but still lifted the side of Anakin’s robe and motioned him closer. Here, propped against the rock and the friendliest Dark-sider he’d ever met, Anakin was finally able to fall asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

The next day whatever cautious optimism his chat with Wei Wuxian left Anakin with evaporated as soon as they set out for the day. They were still caught in the network of ravines and canyons. Wei Wuxian could still walk, but despite his best efforts to hide it, he could not completely keep the limp out of his gait. Nor did he have the strength left to carry Gida Han. In a couple of hours they used up their last bottle of water.

Water was not the only thing to dry up though: so did Wei Wuxian’s constant chatter. Until it was gone Anakin did not fully realise how instrumental it was in keeping their despair in bay. The silence it left behind was deafening.

Soon his discomfort grew so profound he tried to fill the silence himself.

‘So uh. Girls. Me and Senior Jiang both came for Master San’dor, but how did you two wind up here?’

Giza Han scratched her head.

‘We were running away. I could tell you there was a plan but… Nah. The plan was ‘away’ and I guess I thought I could just wing it as we went… See, thing is, my dad had some debts and nothing to pay with, except us, so… yeah. There was no way I’d let him do that, so I stole his ship and went off.’

Anakin winced.

‘Yeah, no joke. But why’d you land here?’

‘Believe me I didn’t wanna, but the generator gave out on us.’

Anakin wanted to offer some reassurances, strategize and help them figure out what to do next, but the words dried up in his throat – after all, they had to survive first. Based on his expression, Wei Wuxian seemed to have the same thoughts, so silence fell once more.

There were footsteps. Again. Heavy, loud footsteps.

This was something else – bigger than yesterday’s Thing and louder than the Silent Giant. Getting out of its way was not an option and it was approaching faster than they could run, unless they wanted to leave both Gida and Wei Wuxian behind. They pressed up against the canyon wall and hoped the creature would pass them without paying them any attention. As it approached, Anakin took a good look: this one had six legs (each of them longer than Anakin’s height) and one more or less well-defined head. It did not… It didn’t look organic. In fact, it seemed to be cobbled together from rocks and spare metal scraps.

For a moment they could hope it would ignore them. For a moment, it looked like it would walk away.

But no.

Just when it looked like it would pass, it rocked to a stop in front of them and slowly, slowly turned its head towards them.

Before Anakin could react, Wei Wuxian was already moving, darting out in front of the creature, yelling, waving his arms at it. The distraction worked – abandoning Anakin and the girls it charged at him, every heavy step shaking the ground. He tried using Force Lightning again, but the monster simply kicked him away, entirely unaffected.

Through the cloud of dust Anakin could barely make out his form – for an agonizing, long moment he lay unmoving. The creature lifted a thick leg – Anakin was about to jump out, cry out and rush to his side, but Giza held him back.

Wei Wuxian stirred – the enormous leg came crashing down – he rolled away at the last moment and scrambled to his feet.

Anakin looked around, trying to find a big enough boulder to lob at the creature when he caught some movement from the corner of his eyes. His brain barely had the time to register the thought ‘spaceship’ when his attention was already drawn back to Wei Wuxian. He gave up on attempting to damage the monster and was now trying to draw it away from the children.

The only problem was that he could not run. He whistled, but this also didn’t do anything – apparently this thing was never alive to begin with and so it could not be dead. The time spent on this last attempt proved too much, it earned him another powerful kick. This time it sent him flying. His body bounced off the rock wall and he remained motionless in a limp, crumpled heap.

Anakin decided. He took a big breath and stepped away from the wall.

Beyond the haze of dust two light-sabres lit up.

Anakin could barely make out what was going on, but, tracking the light of the sabres, he could tell that two figures jumped up on the creature’s back. The thing twisted and shook itself, but the Jedi hacked it apart and pulled its limbs off one by one, until it lost control. Whatever force was holding it together and kept it in motion let up.

It collapsed with a thunderous crash, shaking the ground and filling the air with a fresh cloud of dust. Anakin coughed and covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve. As the last rumbles of falling rocks died down, silence crept in. For a long, deaf moment all Anakin could see was the vague outlines of the dead monster behind a curtain of floating dust.

Then the curtain parted.

Based on the holo Anakin knew Master Lan Wangji would be an impressive presence, but reality by far surpassed his expectation. The lapsed Knight seemed to float on a cloud of white robes as he walked past Anakin – sparing him and the girls a small, polite nod – and hurried to the side of his stricken husband. Falling to his knees, he gently scooped the other man into his arms. Time stood still for them. Dazed and barely clinging to consciousness, Wei Wuxian clung to his husband’s robes, searching his face, as if he could not believe he was real.

‘Lan Zhan…?’

Master Lan did not speak, just kissed his forehead and pulled him even closer. Wei Wuxian sighed, let his eyes flutter closed and his head fall against Lan Wangji’s shoulder. Lan Wangji wrapped him up in a gentle embrace, hiding him behind the folds of his long sleeves, as if they could shield him from all the pain and danger of the world.

Anakin became acutely conscious that he was staring – possibly quite rudely – when he realised that Obi-wan, who he only just noticed, was doing the same, instead of immediately scolding him, as Anakin would have expected. The one to finally break the spell was Giza Han. She stepped up to the pair and crouched down.

‘Will Senior Jiang be all right?’

Master Lan blinked at her, then looked down at his husband with a hint of miffed amusement.

‘Really?’

The man in question half coughed, half sniggered.

‘First name I could think of’ he said, not bothering to open his eyes or extract his face from Lan Wangji’s robes ‘Sorry ‘bout that. Trying to save a Jedi when you’re also running from the Jedi is tricky. I’m called Wei Wuxian.’

‘Right’ Giza Han scoffed ‘How do I know that’s real?’

‘You don’t’ said Wei Wuxian, prying one eye open to look at her ‘But that’s how most people would know me.’


	9. Chapter 9

Now that he was finally out of the water, all the stress and strain of the past few days came crashing down on Anakin. He, Obi-wan and the girls were all holed up in Master Lan’s ship, speeding towards the nearest emergency station. Anakin was cradling a bowl of soup, and while technically he was aware he should be eating it, right now staring listlessly into it was the best he could do. He and Giza just finished telling Obi-wan their story and right now all he wanted was to pass out.

Silence reigned: Giza Han was eating, Gida slept, Obi-wan was staring out the window, slowly rolling Master San’dor’s mask in his hand and Master Lan was treating his husband’s injuries in the back of the ship.

Finally Obi-wan turned to Anakin.

‘So… you met a fellow called Jiang Wanyin, is that correct?’

‘…That’s what Wei…’

‘Shush!’

‘…What?’

Obi-wan tugged at his beard, visibly agitated.

‘Everything would be easier if you never met anyone called Wei Wuxian’ he sighed and shook his head ‘No, simply pretending we never met him won’t work…’

‘Master…?’

‘Look, sooner or later we must discuss the question of the arrest order.’

There was a soft noise behind them. They spun around in their chairs to find Lan Wangji towering above them.

‘The what?’

Obi-wan raised his hands.

‘Look, please hear me out. Our original order included getting you and Master San’dor home and arresting Wei Wuxian…’

Giza Han smacked down her empty bowl and stalked over to loom beside Lan Wangji.

‘He saved your fucking Padawan! He didn’t have to! No one made him do it! You can’t just…’

‘And I don’t want to! Look, the Council thinks he corrupted Master Lan and was responsible for Master San’dor’s disappearance, and…’

‘You know that is not true’ said Lan Wangji.

Obi-wan sighed.

‘I know. May I go on? Thank you. So. It seems like the Council is mistaken about Master Wei’s intentions, but I still very much have a direct order to arrest him. Which means he can follow me on his own accord, or that we will need some sort of a loophole.’

‘You can tell them I threatened to kill you.’ Master Lan said. His flat, matter-of-fact tone made Anakin shiver.

‘That wouldn’t help you’ Obi-wan answered, obviously trying his best not to sound intimidated ‘I’d have to let myself get mauled to show them I at least tried to oppose you, which I’m not keen to do, and it would do nothing to make them change their opinion about Master Wei.’

For a second Master Lan kept his eyes fixed on Obi-wan, then nodded slowly.

‘I think’ Obi-wan said ‘It would be for the best if Master Wei came with us and cleared up this whole misunderstanding once and for all.’

Lan Wangji shook his head.

‘If I failed to convince him to do so all these years, you will not succeed now, and I will not allow you to force him. He wants nothing to do with the Order and now I am inclined to agree. I filed my report. I told the Council he was no threat, that all he wished for was to be left alone, and yet here you are.’

Giza slowly raised her hand.

‘Um… you’re basically cops, right? So how about, like the good, responsible cops you are, you first wanted to take me and Gida home, but while you were at it, they ran out on you? Stole your ship and left you stranded on Ryloth? Surely you could call your Council and ask for a lift home from there?’

Anakin perked up when he saw Obi-wan nod.

‘…Fine. Alter course to Ryloth then.’

‘Uhh, just one more thing?’ Giza said, twisting the end of her lekku ‘Please don’t actually take us home… I mean… There was a reason we ran and…’

‘Wei Ying said so’

‘So umm… I dunno if…’

Lan Wangji turned to her, expression calm and solemn.

‘Do not worry. You can stay with us as long as you wish to.’

Giza Han let out a strangled half-sob-half giggle and sank down into one of the seats.

‘I don’t wanna… I mean I’d love to, but I don’t wanna be a bother.’

Master Lan knelt before her and looked into her eyes.

‘You would not be.’

Giza gulped. She looked at her sleeping sister, then over to the back of the ship where Master Wei was laying, then back at Lan Wangji. She took a deep breath.

‘Alright then.’

Lan Wangji nodded. Anakin smiled – somehow he doubted Giza Han would soon find an excuse to part from the pair.

Master Lan got up and reset the course to the twi’lek home-world, Ryloth. A solemn silence settled back over the company. Seized by a sudden urge Anakin got up and walked to the back of the ship.

Up close Master Wei looked even worse than Anakin recalled. His hands and face were scratched up and a long cut ran along his hairline. His lips were white and his breath laboured and wheezing. Anakin tried to gulp around the lump in his throat. Now that he thought about it, he could not recall a single instance when Wei Wuxian touched any of their energy bars. All of them went to him and the girls.

‘…Anakin?’

Anakin started. Master Wei was blinking at him, tired and unfocused.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you.’

‘’S all right… Can’t sleep anyway.’

Anakin looked at him, opened his mouth, and then promptly shut it again. Master Wei chuckled – which then turned into a cough – and grinned weakly up at him.

‘Just spit it out!’

‘It’s probably a stupid question but… Is ‘Jiang Wanyin’ a name you just made up or…?’

‘Nah, he’s my brother’ said Master Wei, laughing again. This was a mistake, he groaned and rubbed his chest. He scrunched his face up and pressed his lips together, trying hard to breathe through the pain. After he calmed a little he went on, voice barely more than a hoarse whisper.

‘Haven’t seen him in a while’ he said ‘Don’t think he’d want to see me.’

He smiled again.

‘He’d burst a vein if he heard I was using his name.’

Anakin laughed a little. He wanted to squeeze the man’s hand, but he didn’t know it if would be proper or wanted. Wei Wuxian solved his problem by reaching out and patting his knee.

‘I’ll be just fine, Ani, no need to worry.’

***

Anakin watched Mater Lan’s ship shoot up into the sky of Ryloth. Obi-wan theatrically complained about being stranded to any passer-by who would listen, but Anakin remained silent. He reached into the breast pocket of his robes, touching a small komm-link Master Wei gave him.

Keeping his eyes on the spot where the ship disappeared, Anakin grinned.


	10. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And a little bonus :D

‘Have you heard tell of the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis, the Wise?’

Palpatine watched Anakin from the corner of his eye, willing his face to stay still, lest a smirk give away his intentions. Anakin answered with a non-committal hum, so, taking it as a no, Palpatine launched into the story.

After he finished, silence reigned. Impatient, but determined not to show it, the Chancellor forced himself to feign interest in the opera performance they were supposed to be watching. Finally, Anakin hummed and leant back in his chair.

‘Weren’t Plagueis’ techniques of creating life more about conception though? If anything happened to Padmé I’d want her back, in her current age, not to clone her and have a baby version of her. I mean, I know people can be brought back, but it’s really fiddly, and I’ve only ever seen it work once.’

Palpatine couldn’t even blink. This was most assuredly not where the conversation was supposed to be headed.

‘Oh. You seem… well-informed. Did you try it yourself?’

Anakin shrugged.

‘Only the baseline necromancy, but I’m nowhere near as good as Uncle Xian… I mean Master Wei… so I wouldn’t try actually bringing someone back yet. Took him months to figure out how, and you know I’d rather not see Padmé as a fierce zombie.’

Palpatine squeezed out a weak little chuckle he hoped was suitably attentive and non-threatening. Master Wei? The hell was that? It couldn’t possibly be… 

He shook his head. Beside him, unperturbed, Anakin was going on about the details of raising corpses, harnessing wrath and resentful energy without letting it completely ruin your mind. Palpatine’s head was spinning. Could this mystery man be Wei Wuxian? 

No way. 

_No way_.

That was a clown with a stupid grin and cheap tricks and no great aspirations in life. He vividly recalled sending Darth Maul to recruit him, more than a decade ago, and how he laughed at them and their lofty goals. Last time Palpatine bothered to check in on the man he’d acquired some boring, ex-Jedi husband, was stowed away on a remote planet, raising a herd of children and worrying over what to plant in his backyard.

And yet somehow Palpatine managed to miss the whole ‘ _terrifyingly powerful necromancer_ ’ bit. And now Palpatine’s strongest pawn, Count Dooku was dead, sacrificed in a bid to trick Anakin into giving in to the Dark Side.

…Which the lad was apparently already studying. Has been for years, probably, in a controlled environment, under the guidance of someone who had no real Vision for his future (or rather didn’t want to use him as a weapon).

Anakin put up his arms and folded them behind his head.

‘Incidentally, Wei Wuxian and the Jedi agree on very little, but one thing they are all clear on: one can’t trust politicians. None of them. On a tangentially related note… why does the Chancellor care so much about the Dark Side of the Force?’

Palpatine broke out in cold sweat.


End file.
